The Liverpool goalkeeper was tested in the dying moments of a tense Champions League group-stage match against Napoli, a game the English club was leading 1-0 at the time.

Napoli forward Arkadiusz Milik found himself in front of goal in the last moments and tested Alisson with a predator’s shot from a near point-blank range, but the Brazilian shot-stopper got a limb in the way and somehow blocked the shot.

Had Milik’s strike gone in, Napoli would have equalised 1-1 and consequently taken Liverpool’s place in the next round of the competition, thereby dumping the Reds into Europe’s secondary – and less lucrative – tournament, the Europa League.

But Alisson did what he was brought in to do at Liverpool – frustrate the team’s opponents, keep a clean sheet, and make a return on the £65 million ($US82 million) investment the club made when it bought him in a then-world-record transfer for a goalkeeper in July.

Alisson is doing just that, as that one save made Liverpool more than $US10 million – the club will earn €9.5 million ($US10.8 million) in prize money for participating in the first Champions League knockout round in February and March.

Had the team got dumped into the Europa League, it would have earned a paltry €500,000 ($US570,000) by participating in the first knockout round next year.

So regardless of whether Liverpool wins or loses its Champions League knockout-round fixtures in 2019, it will be more than $US10 million better off – largely because of Alisson’s last-minute heroics.